Panthera Leo Cordyceps Militaris
by Einhorne
Summary: Odd crossover/experiment. After Mufasa's death, Scar's reign has driven the Pridelands into turmoil. The lack of food and water has driven many lions and hyenas to attack their own. The only hope of finding salvation is to reach the other side of the enormous stretch of land, wherewater grows salty and there's plenty of fish.


Notes:

So. This is an odd...crossover, I guess? When I first got into the game I toyed with this concept and even drew out a couple doodles of the characters but didn't do much. I wrote out a short summary and it got an interesting reaction. So far, this is a fairly loose adaptation since a lot of the modern-day themes in The Last of Us won't translate into an anthropomorphized animal world. The characterizations are a little blander since they're animals, though that's probably an excuse for slightly off characterization (haven't had a chance to study the characters very well yet). Since it's an experiment it probably won't go very far past a few chapters, but who knows. This is a project that I'm working on during my spare time between college and personal writing.  
100% unbeta'd; mistakes are my own.

* * *

A spurt of blood flew through the air as Joel's teeth crushed the windpipe of yet another hyena, which yelped once before spasming and dying. The heavyset lion growled and threw his slain opponent to the side, his thick dark brown mane swishing from the movement. "Anyone else?" he snarled at the ring of hyenas about him and flexed his claws.

One of them leapt at him, laughing wildly, and Joel caught its head in his mouth and crushed its skull. Brain matter squished and blood flowed to splatter onto the ground. The tang of iron filled the air, and Joel threw his second kill away to join the corpse of the first.

The surrounding hyenas glanced at each other. One opened its mouth in a big grin and chuckled. The one next to him also began to laugh, and a rousing chorus of hyena giggles soon surrounded Joel.

The bulky lion bared his teeth and crouched in a defensive position. If they all attacked at once, they would be at his throat in minutes. Nevertheless, Joel would not go down without a fight. Sucking in a deep breath before doing so, he raised his head and let out a roar that shook the earth. His muscles bulged as he tensed to spring, to fight to the death-

Another roar shattered the sky. It was lighter and sounded more feminine-a lioness, perhaps. The hyenas froze when they heard it; one lone male lion they could take down easy, but a lioness-the lionesses, despite being hungry, were still in their prime and were pure muscle and power.

The owner of the roar was standing atop a termite mound. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl, showing pure white teeth. "Need some help, Joel?" she called out as she jumped into the circle to join him. Her reddish-brown fur rippled as her muscles quivered in anticipation of a fight.

"Tess!" Joel said, "Finished your job just in time to give me a hand here." he bumped his shoulders into hers in greeting.

"Been done for hours!" The lioness grinned, "I was tryin' to find something to munch on but I heard you were in trouble so I came to check it out." She lashed out with a paw of sharp claws and smacked a hyena smartly on the cheek. It backed away, tail between its legs, and dashed off.

Surprisingly, the rest of the pack ran off too. Tess and Joel watched the run for a moment, still on high alert, then sat down on their haunches.

"Huh," Tess began to groom herself, "That was weird. They don't usually run off like that."

"Those weren't Scar's," Joel growled and pawed at the sandy dirt of the ruined Pridelands, "Those were Robert's. He paid off a bunch of them and now they act as his assassins."

"For real?" Tess would have raised an eyebrow if a lion were capable of such motions, "didn't think he would stoop so low to hire those shit-for-brains when he's got a literal pride following him."

"You'd be surprised what someone would do for revenge," Joel snorted.

"Then why haven't you gone after any hunters yet?" Tess began to lick at her shoulder, "They killed Sarah all those years ago, you'd think you'd be out hunting them until you dropped."

"I'd rather live and watch those pathetic excuses for lions tear each other apart," Joel's claws hit a rock and he pried it from the dirt. He bat at it with an enormous paw.

"You know them better 'n anyone," Tess stood, "you were one of them."

"I was," Joel's claws closed around the rock, "I'm not proud of it." he stared into the distance like he always did when Sarah was mentioned.

Sarah. Poor, poor little Sarah, Joel's daughter. She had been a very young perky lion cub with beautiful pale cream fur. The day that Mufasa had been killed and Scar became king, she had been murdered by a rogue lioness, of a group that the rest of the pridelands would soon call "hunters".

The lion they had been talking about earlier, Robert, was one such individuals. For some reason he had a grudge against Joel and Tess. The burly lion with black fur and beady eyes preferred to hide behind a wall of other hunters and now hyenas instead of coming out to face them.

"Joel," Tess said suddenly, "Let's go get Robert. I heard Fireflies were looking for him, I wanna go sink my teeth into his neck before they do." She jumped up and stretched, her lean body taut. Her mouth opened in a yawn, showing sharp teeth and a pink tongue.

"Go get Robert?" Joel said, surprised, "there's gotta be an army surrounding that guy!"

"He took a zebra from me," Tess's teeth flashed as she bared them, "I wanna go get it back. He promised me one a long ass time ago and now he goes and steals it instead of handing it over."

Joel gave her a look. "You know where he is?"

"He's hiding within pride rock," The lioness flexed her claws, "and Scar's away."

It was very tempting. Robert had been harrying them for months, always there with a band of hyenas to steal one of their kills or get a swipe or two in. He had become a real, true menace only recently, however. The last few times, his attacks were aimed to kill.

Joel and Tess weren't the only he harassed either. It was collectively agreed upon by everyone in the pridelands that the burly beast was, well, a menace. Nobody had the guts to take him down, though.

Except, of course, for Tess. And maybe some of that group that was called the "Fireflies". The Fireflies were a small band of lionesses that worked to undermine Scar's reign. Nobody talked to them purely because they didn't want to be seen fraternizing with Scar's enemies. That usually meant death at a Hyena's jaws. An execution in front of the entire land, to make an example.

Several such executions had already been carried out. Most were Fireflies; others were lionesses who were sick or injured or rebellious. Scar's brutality knew no bounds, and Joel and Tess often found themselves "running from the law" for no reason other than the King was bored and wanted to see a chase that hopefully ended in bloodshed.

"Are you sure?" Joel's whiskers twitched in doubt. His tail lashed back and forth.

"Zazu told me," Tess proclaimed, "and he never lies. Cmon, let's go get the bastard before the Hyena King comes back." she jumped up and started to jog lightly in the direction of Pride Rock, her paws causing little puffs of dust to rise from the ground every time they hit it.

"Hyena King?" Joel said, amused, "Where'd you get that one?"

"He commands the fucking hyenas more than he controls us, so why not?" Tess, if she were a human, would have shrugged.

Joel shook his head. Out of all his years of knowing her, he would never even begin to understand her.

* * *

Pride Rock was worryingly deserted of lions, hyenas, and otherwise. Nevertheless, Tess and Joel remained alert and ready to bolt if they were attacked. Just because it appeared deserted didn't mean it was. Robert, being the sneaky and cowardly type, was likely hiding underneath the great rock behind a bunch of rough lackeys.

The rocks were cold underneath their paws, it being a dreary day without sun-the usual. They hadn't had some nice sunlight in oh, about two months now. They blamed it on Scar. They blamed everything on Scar, in fact. What wasn't there to blame? His reign had driven the herds out, leaving the land without food, and had scared away the sun and the rain. Whatever being that hailed above them was obviously very upset with the murders of Mufasa and Simba.

"It's too quiet," Tess hissed to Joel, who shook his mane in agreement, "I wonder if this is a trap."

"Wouldn't put it past Robert," Joel growled, "he might've taken that zebra from you to provoke you into doing something like this."

"Maybe," Tess's ears flicked back and forth, "who knows. Asshole's had it coming for a long-ass time ."

The pair padded over to the entrance to the cave within the stone and peered warily into it. The tunnel seemed deserted, and a quick sniff from Joel confirmed that nobody had been there for a while. His and Tess's claws clacked against the rock as they made their way inside, glancing behind them and side to side to watch for any lions or hyenas that could have spotted them.

"No spies," Joel murmured, pausing to sniff again, "though I do smell our friend . Oh, shit, there it is. He's got at least four-watch out, Tess!"

The lioness jumped away just in time to avoid the crushing jaws of a Clicker-a hyena so starved that it had abandoned all reason and now only thought of two things: killing and eating. Scar deliberately kept some like this, remarking that they were "Very useful and berserker-like". It snapped at Tess's throat again but missed, and Joel swiftly crushed its skull with an enormous paw as it opened its mouth to let loose its signature laughing noise that sounded like the clicks of claws on stone. The brains and blood splattered on the rock in a rosette.

"How the shit did he get one of those?" Tess snarled, quivering all over and staring at the gore with hackles raised, "I thought Scar didn't let anyone else have 'em."

"Must've bought him out," Joel wrinkled his nose at the stench, "we need to leave, someone might've heard the clicks." he started back down the tunnel into the bowels of Pride Rock once more, gesturing for Tess to follow him.

The pair continued on in silence before stopping at a crack in the walls of the tunnel. Tess crouched down and peered into it. "There's our guy," she grinned, "of course he's surrounded himself with Hunters and Clickers, the coward. Always preferred to run rather than to fight."

Joel grunted as he bent his knees to look. Sure enough, the black lion was sitting in a crowd of hyenas and lionesses alike, all menacing and bloodstained.

"D'you see a way in there?" he said, voice low. His eyes scanned the room, searching for a hole. "There," he pointed his nose at a far corner where another, wider crack was visible, "now how the hell do we get there?"

Tess withdrew from the crack. "Dunno." She sat down and began to groom herself again. Over the years that he'd known her, Joel took the act of grooming in odd places to mean that she was nervous.

The male lion bent down lower to get a better look into the room, his long gray mane brushing against the ground. "Someone's got the same idea as us," he said, surprised, "I can see 'em hiding out behind that other crack. Fuck, could be Fireflies."

"Then we're too late," Tess would have shrugged if she were a human, "might as well let them get the kill, Robert's been as much as a problem to them as he's been to us."

Joel stepped back from the crack. "Think we can bust through?" he wondered aloud, "seems flimsy enough." he braced his shoulder against the crack and pushed -hard-against the stone.

It gave way easier than he'd expected, and he found himself falling into the room below with Tess not far behind him as Fireflies burst into the cave. There were many of them-at least twenty-and they swarmed over the lions and hyenas to swiftly take them out. A large brown lioness with a strip of black going down her back lunged for Robert, who leapt aside to avoid her charge.

"I don't got it!" The male said frantically, "Dammit, Marlene, I told you I don't have it!" he scrambled away, surprisingly light on his feet, and instead rammed into Tess, who roared and snapped at his neck.

"Fuck off, Robert," The lioness swatted at him again, "you promised me my shit, where is it?"

Marlene glanced at Tess. "Take something from you too, eh?" She pulled back her lips as she moved to attack Robert again. The black lion danced away and sent his henchmen out to attack them, but he didn't get far. With a mighty leap, Tess had pounced on him and swiftly brought him to the ground.

The lion squirmed underneath her gaze and claws. "I don't have it-" he said weakly, but shut up when Tess wrapped her jaws around his throat. His eyes glanced over to Joel, then to Marlene.

"Where's our food," Joel snarled, "I know you took something from Tess." he glanced at Marlene when the other lioness snorted.

"So the food he so graciously promised us was stolen. Of course." She bent down to look at Robert, who squirmed under her gaze.

"Where is it?" The brown lioness snarled, "Where's your stash?"

"It's empty!" Robert said shrilly, "It's gone, all gone-ghk!" He swallowed as Tess's teeth tightened around his throat.

"You're fucking lying," Marlene pressed the paw that had the signature Firefly emblem scratched onto it to the other's shoulder, "you know that there's food somewhere."

The black lion's eyes flicked from side to side. "I swear," he begged, "there's nothing, it's all empty-"

"Empty or not," Marlene roared in his face, "I still want to know where it is , asshole!" she dug her claws into Robert's shoulder, drawing blood.

The male's eyes suddenly were focused on something beyond the lioness. Without warning a hyena that had been hiding in the shadows leapt at Marlene with a "click-click-click" and a laugh and tore at her leg, making the lioness roar in pain. Joel reacted quickly and dispatched it the same way as he had the other-crushing its soft skull with an enormous paw, and this time he tore its stomach out for good measure, the guts spilling out in a waterfall of gore.

Marlene rounded on Robert again when the hyena died. "The food stores," she growled.

The lion, now quite shaken up at the sudden death of us his lackey, gulped and said, "Behind-behind The Rock, behind some ivy." he cringed as Tess's teeth let up slightly.

Marlene bared her teeth. "Thanks. You can kill him now," she gestured to Tess.

The other lioness grinned around her mouthful of Robert's fur and swiftly tore out his throat. She spat out the blood and fur, and kicked the corpse away.

"So, what'd he take?" Marlene asked as she sat on her haunches and stretched her injured leg out. She hissed at the pain and began to clean the wound.

"A fucking zebra," Tess snarled, "he'd promised to leave me alone last time, and I guess you can't trust snakes after all. God, that looks nasty." she gestured to the leg wound.

"Hurts like hell," Marlene licked at it, "hyenas have really powerful jaws. Thankfully, Clickers are one-track minded and don't possess the intelligence of one that isn't. This is a superficial wound, nothing more or less. I should be able to walk on it."

Joel stared at her. "How do you know all of this?" he demanded, "And why are you so interested in what he's done to us? He's fucked over many people, so why the special interest in Tess and I?"

Marlene stood, hissing as she put weight on her injured leg. "Well, I heard about your, ah….prowess in hunting and sneaking about from the grapevine and I thought that you two would be able to help me. You'll be fed and have permanent access to the Firefly food piles as reward."

Tess reeled back. "Wow," she said in a low tone of voice, "must be pretty important for you to offer that much."

"Very," Marlene bared her teeth, "it's very important. Oh, and another thing-you can't tell anyone about this. Nobody must know that you're helping the leader of the Fireflies."

Tess and Joel glanced at each other. Unlimited access to a fairly sizeable amount of food meant a lot. Until Scar died, or was dethroned, they were stuck with what bare minimum they managed to snatch before the hyenas got to it. It sounded risky.

Risky, however, was the name of their game. If there wasn't some sort of risk to it, then why bother. And a chance to get in on the Fireflies wasn't one to pass up on quickly, but if they were found out they would be dead within days.

"Whatcha need help with?" Tess asked warily.

"I need to get someone out of here," Marlene sat down again with a sigh, "I made a promise to someone that I would. But right now, I can't, and the cub needs to leave now ."

"A cub?" Joel asked, surprised, "I thought Scar killed all of them except Nala."

"She was born after the culling," Marlene explained, "but I can't go into details now, we've been here far too long." Cringing, she stood up again, and limped to the crack where the Firefly lionesses had spilled from.

Joel and Tess warily followed her, glancing at the lionesses that surrounded them. All of them wore the same wary expressions and they kept whispering to each other. Must be talking about us, Joel thought. He gave them wary glances and they backed off.

"Are you sure we can trust her?" He hissed to Tess. The lioness cocked her head to the side.

"Escorts are easy. I'm liking the sound of food more and more. Yeah, I trust her."

Joel shook his head. They were going to get killed one day. Messily.

* * *

Marlene lead them to another cave a few miles away from Pride Rock. It was very small, but filled with nooks and crannies-and swarming with Fireflies. Every single one of them, lions and lionesses and even a few hyenas, stared at Joel and Tess, watching their every move. Some pulled cubs closer and others growled, crouched over food.

"So many of them," Joel said, thin threads of awe coating his voice, "no wonder Scar hates you."

"Heh." Marlene shook her head, "we've got tons of others all over the 'lands." she stopped before an alcove and reared up to look into it. "Where is that kid," she murmured.

Joel took a chance to look around him, taking in the sheer volume of the cave that they'd taken residence in. It was enormous with many alcoves like the one Marlene was peering into. From the smell, some of them held food. He turned around slowly, taking the sight in, his mane swishing and tail held lightly in the air.

Marlene suddenly jumped up into the alcove. "Hey, you two," she called down to Tess and Joel, "help me with this, will ya?" she gestured into the darkness. When the two had joined her atop the small cliff, she began to push against a stone.

The other lions pushed with her, and when it had been shoved aside the leader of the Fireflies collapsed onto her side, breathing heavily with exertion. From within the cave within a cave, a blur of reddish brown fur leapt out and rammed into Tess.

"Get the fuck away from her!"


End file.
